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Week 12: The Black Spider
Week 12: The Black Spider Freestone: 5/24 AS 952 AKA The Time Ray Forgot to Write Something When we left off... Ghouls and zombies flooded the mine, pounding down doors and swallowing everything in their path. A cave-in collapsed one exit, then another. The only way out was through, and everyone was dying. "Quintus...," taunted a strange and misplaced elf. Death was coming for you all. "Mr. Quintus, wake up!" Man, that dream sucked. Luckily for Sir Quintus, young Nars Dendar snapped him out of it. Nars' arrival late the night before had been the subject of some debate, but the general consensus was that if he made it this far into Wave Echo Cave on his own, he would probably be okay with the whole party. After a cold breakfast, Ulfar spotted a piece of parchment shoved under the door. It contained a note signed with an image of a spider, and invited you to parley in the room with the creepy lake vibe. Nobody was about it, so you left through the partially barricaded door to the east instead. To the east, you spotted an out of commission water wheel and bellows, with a number of dead dwarves and orcs scattered around. There was also a floating skull, wreathed in green flame, and a strong stench of undeath in the area. Montage Selgaard and Nars launched themselves at the skull, which shot all kinds of nasty spells, while Clyde, Ulfar, and Quintus dealt with the rising zombie horde. Using a dry aqueduct to its advantage, the flame skull '''required a bit of jumping and climbing to reach. However, young Nars proved himself by spiking the wretched thing on to the ground. Skull shattered and zombies dropped, a confused voice called you back toward the room where you spent the night... It was '''Nundro Rockseeker! He was bound and gagged, but essentially unharmed. Nundro said the Black Spider left him there as a peace offering, and reiterated the invitation to parley. This time, without a better alternative, the group more or less accepted and traveled west, into the creepy water room. You were met by a Drow, who had disarmed himself and asked that you do likewise. Ulfar remained ready for a fight in the hallway, but everyone else set down their weapons with a minimum of grumbling. The Spider introduced himself as Nezznar, and explained the long series of missteps and bad information that led him to this point. He was particularly unhappy with Iarno, who is now his prisoner, and with the Cragmaw Bugbears who colluded with the Redbrands and used Nezznar's work as a cover for slaving. Nezznar's belief that the Forge of Spells had to be hidden or destroyed sprung from his belief that it's presence would inevitably lead to the annexation of Phandalin and the free cities by Blackaxe. He is part of a grassroots movement led by a person known only as Bloodhammer (a popular Super Warden from the Penny Press newspaper), and they oppose the International Council. Unlike other anti-council movements, they object on grounds that the world is being stifled under the will of 3 or 4 majority governments, with fewer and fewer alternatives still unclaimed. The unexplored (known) world is shrinking. Where are the free people supposed to go if national borders keep growing? There were some fundamental disagreements between more lawful members of the party and Nezznar (especially Nundro), but a vote was called and the "destroy or hide the Forge for X reasons" contingency won. Sorry, Ralph. No second magical Forge... At least that's what it looks like so far. You formed a tenuous alliance, a cornerstone of which was that Nezznar turn over Iarno Albrek. He agreed, and after a rest (with second coming of flame skull and attempted holy water rituals in cut scene), arrived at the place where Iarno is being detained. Around Town WOOSH!